Looks like more than just Neversoft and Radical felt the sting of layoffs following a meeting with Activision yesterday. According to reports, Luxoflux and Underground Development, the studio responsible for Guitar Hero: Van Halen and BMX XXX, were both closed completely.

Square Enix has lowered its first-half profit forecast by 65 percent to ¥2.6 billion ($28.4 million) following a round of layoffs. Blaming numerous “special factors” for the revision, the current exchange rate and premium severance packages for staff that were laid off were also to blame. Net income for its financial year ending March 31, […]

Ex-id/Ion Storm man John Romero’s latest project, a development studio called Slipgate Ironworks, has seen a bit of restructuring recently. First, the bad news: layoffs. And lots of them. According to a few former Slipgate employees who spoke with Kotaku, some 50 staff members have received pink slips over the past week. The not-so-bad news, […]

Just as Endrant Studios finished pushing Wolfenstein out the door, the big bad wolf that is financial troubles came and blew the developer’s house down. Or part of it, anyway. “We have recently completed a development cycle and have regrettably been forced to make adjustments to staff and headcounts,” a company rep told GamesIndustry.biz. “Those […]

Crystal Dynamics has loosed another 25 staff, Eidos has confirmed to Kotaku, following around 30 redundancies in January. “We can confirm that Crystal Dynamics has made a reduction of approximately 25 people at the San Francisco studio,” said the publisher in a statement. “This decision is a reflection of the continued drive to focus resources […]

Kotaku’s rumouring that Bionic Commando developer GRIN’s dropped between 100 and 160 staff, citing “multiple sources”. The firm, which has offices in Sweden, Spain and Indonesia, is rumored to be in the process of shuttering its Gothenburg and Barcelona-based sites. Layoffs at its headquarters in Stockholm are rumored to amount to nearly 30. Full thing […]

Up to 8,450 game industry professionals have lost their jobs since July 2008, according to analyst Wanda Meloni. Around 6,300 jobs have been lost from the North American trade, the rest coming from Asia and the UK. Meloni noted that multiple studios have bitten the dust during the period. “A handful of others are on […]

Empire, as expected, has gone bust. The publisher’s properties have been sold to New World IP in the US, and its 49 staff have been laid off. Administrator KPMG Restructuring has been appointed to wind down the company and is not seeking to sell the business. “Despite the fact that the gaming industry has been […]

MCV’s published an internal Empire memo which suggests that rumour of the company’s demise were on the money. “It has been widely reported online that we have entered administration – this has not yet occurred. However it is highly likely that administrators will be appointed in the next few days,” said the note. “It is […]

According to this MCV report, Empire’s entered administration. Says the piece, all staff have been sent home from the firm’s London offices and redundancies are being worked through. An official announcement’s expected on Monday.

How many people lost their jobs at THQ-owned Big Huge Games last week? This Kotaku piece is rumouring 45 got the axe. The site’s arrived at the figure by comparing the developer’s current staff page with a cached version. There used to be 125 – 80 remain. There’s no official confirmation as to how many […]

Layoffs are happening over at Big Huge Games. The Baltimore, MD, studio was informed by THQ a few weeks ago that if a buyer wasn’t found, the Catan and Rise of Nations developer would be shut down. “These actions were unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment,” said THQ. It is not known […]

NCsoft’s reported Q4 financials, showing a 22 percent loss despite an 11 percent sales rise. The news comes nipping at the heels of lay-offs and restructuring reports on Wednesday. Fans wanting Guild Wars 2 will suffer because of this, with the game has been pushed into 2010/2011 to focus more on the release of MMO Aion […]

Joystiq is rumouring that between 60 and 130 people have been laid off at Mythic. Some of redundancies are apparently from WAR development staff, supposedly including senior designers. Mark Jacobs, however, made a statement on the official Warhammer Online site claiming that staffing numbers are attributed to consumer need and progress with game design. “With […]

IGN’s Matt Casamassina has published an email from an “inside source” that claims Factor 5 is to close. From the mail: We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today. That’s some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while. […]

After earlier reports outlining EA’s plans to fire 400 and close nine studios, it seems the first outfit to be axed is Need for Speed developer Black Box. According to IGN, many of the studio’s staff are being relocated to EA’s Burnaby facility in British Columbia. Apparently the closure will not be immediate, meaning SKATE […]

As reported by Edge, Free Radical’s administrator – Resolve – has claimed there’s already been good interest in buying the developer. “We are very confident that we will achieve a sale if we decide to market the business,” said spokesman for Resolve, Cameron Gunn. “It’s a testament to the employees and the regard of the […]

EA’s just announced plans to lay off an extra 400 staff over and above the 600 redundancies it announced in October. The sum total of lost EA jobs now planned amounts to 1,000, or 10 percent of the company’s total workforce. The revised restructuring will result in the consolidation or closure of at least nine […]

Tweaktown’s claiming that card manufacturer ABIT will be closing its doors at the end of this month. There’s not a huge amount of go on through there, but there we are. From the sound of it this’ll be cleared up soon.

Layoffs Latest

According to this MCV report, Empire’s entered administration. Says the piece, all staff have been sent home from the firm’s London offices and redundancies are being worked through. An official announcement’s expected on Monday.

How many people lost their jobs at THQ-owned Big Huge Games last week? This Kotaku piece is rumouring 45 got the axe. The site’s arrived at the figure by comparing the developer’s current staff page with a cached version. There used to be 125 – 80 remain. There’s no official confirmation as to how many […]

Layoffs are happening over at Big Huge Games. The Baltimore, MD, studio was informed by THQ a few weeks ago that if a buyer wasn’t found, the Catan and Rise of Nations developer would be shut down. “These actions were unfortunate but were necessitated by the difficult economic environment,” said THQ. It is not known […]

NCsoft’s reported Q4 financials, showing a 22 percent loss despite an 11 percent sales rise. The news comes nipping at the heels of lay-offs and restructuring reports on Wednesday. Fans wanting Guild Wars 2 will suffer because of this, with the game has been pushed into 2010/2011 to focus more on the release of MMO Aion […]

Joystiq is rumouring that between 60 and 130 people have been laid off at Mythic. Some of redundancies are apparently from WAR development staff, supposedly including senior designers. Mark Jacobs, however, made a statement on the official Warhammer Online site claiming that staffing numbers are attributed to consumer need and progress with game design. “With […]

IGN’s Matt Casamassina has published an email from an “inside source” that claims Factor 5 is to close. From the mail: We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today. That’s some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while. […]

After earlier reports outlining EA’s plans to fire 400 and close nine studios, it seems the first outfit to be axed is Need for Speed developer Black Box. According to IGN, many of the studio’s staff are being relocated to EA’s Burnaby facility in British Columbia. Apparently the closure will not be immediate, meaning SKATE […]

As reported by Edge, Free Radical’s administrator – Resolve – has claimed there’s already been good interest in buying the developer. “We are very confident that we will achieve a sale if we decide to market the business,” said spokesman for Resolve, Cameron Gunn. “It’s a testament to the employees and the regard of the […]

EA’s just announced plans to lay off an extra 400 staff over and above the 600 redundancies it announced in October. The sum total of lost EA jobs now planned amounts to 1,000, or 10 percent of the company’s total workforce. The revised restructuring will result in the consolidation or closure of at least nine […]

Tweaktown’s claiming that card manufacturer ABIT will be closing its doors at the end of this month. There’s not a huge amount of go on through there, but there we are. From the sound of it this’ll be cleared up soon.

Administrator Resolve Partners has confirmed that Free Radical has not specifically closed, but is instead in administration. Cameron Gunn, a spokesperson for Resolve, told ThisIsNottingham: “The company was placed in to administration yesterday afternoon. “We will be spending the next three or four days assessing the financial position of the company but it’s business as […]

Multiple sources have confirmed to VG247 that Free Radical is, indeed, closed. Edge has posted up a lengthy account of recent events at the firm from what looks to be a good source. Apparently founder Dave Doak left earlier this month, and is now in the process of setting up a new developer with co-founder […]

Word’s spreading that Free Radical may have closed its doors. The UK developer currently isn’t answering its phone. Free Rad’s known to be working on Star Wars: Battlefront 3 and TimeSplitters 4. Know what’s going on? Let us know. Thanks, Hunam. Update: CVG’s reporting that FRD’s Christmas party wasn’t the most pleasant of affairs. It […]

GI’s reporting that Turbine’s shedding staff after launching the LotRO Moria expansion, dropping a number of staff at both its Massachusetts and California studios. “Yesterday, Turbine took steps to align our business to successfully achieve our strategic goals in the years ahead,” said a spokesperson. “As part of this transition some of our talented colleagues […]

Midway’s announced plans to cut 180 staff, or 25 percent of its global workforce. Its Austin studio is to be closed completely, and “development on several non-core games” has been suspended, the publisher said in a statement. “The cost-reduction measures are vital for us to rationalize our operations and provide the resources necessary for our […]

According to this Edge piece, a recent blog posting about layoffs and delayed pay at Lair developer Factor 5 is “all true.” The site’s source said that 37 people were laid off from the Californian studio on Friday afternoon. Around 38 people remain, he said. “The last time staff got paid was October 15,” the […]

According to this MCV piece, THQ UK is facing some staff cutting in the wake of deepening second quarter losses. From the piece: At this stage no official comment has been made by the company but MCV believes that, as part of a global alignment, a number of UK staff have been placed at risk […]

According to this GI report, NCsoft may be readying to cut around 50 staff from its Brighton office as part of a “streamlining” effort. From the piece: According to a number of sources close to the company the move is set to be made following the decision to stop work on the untitled MMO that […]

VG247 has learned that an announcement regarding potential job losses at Vivendi UK is imminent, although the company appears to be locked down on talk of the situation. GI reported earlier today that British Sierra staff are to bear the brunt of redundancies as a result of the formation of Activision Blizzard, while the Activision […]

According to this GI piece, Vivendi UK – and specifically the team looking after Sierra titles – is expected to take the brunt of any lay-offs as a result of the formation of Activision Blizzard. From the piece: According to senior sources the majority of the Vivendi team, which oversees the Sierra games label among […]

GI’s reporting that LucasArts has confirmed that a set of lay-offs happened this week, admitting that VP of product development, Peter Hirschmann, is no longer with the company. “Peter Hirschmann’s leaving was a mutual decision,” a company spokesperson said. “He brought the company into next-gen development and has nurtured a strong slate through our pipeline. […]

Kotaku’s rumouring that between 75-100 LucasArts staff have been laid off following the completion of Lego Star Wars. From the site: While LucasArts public relations did not get back to us today, several former LucasArts staffers did, with one telling us that 75-100 employees were laid off from the company, including the producer of LEGO […]

According to this Gamasutra report, THQ has laid off staff at two of its wholly-owned developers, Phoenix, Arizona-based Rainbow Studios and Kirkland, Washington-based Sandblast Games. The Rainbow staffers were let go in mid-April, with the bad news hitting Sandblast this week, apparently. From the piece: The Rainbow layoffs occurred in mid-April, comprising about 30 team […]

According to this story, “Inside sources have informed 1UP that Eidos’s entire PR, marketing, and sales department has been laid off as part of the deal with Warner Bros.” There’s been no confirmation of this as yet, and we’re assuming this relates to the US as opposed to the UK, so we’ll have to check […]